CO48/133
National Archives, Kew,
Transcribed by volunteers from the ZA-IB and ZA-EC Rootsweb mailing
lists from digital photographs taken by Sue Mackay at the National Archives.
The original correspondence is filed in order of receipt. Here it has been
placed in alphabetical order according to the surname of the writer, with
letters by the same writer in chronological order, for ease of reading.
Original spelling has been maintained.
Letters, unless otherwise indicated, were either
addressed to the Rt. Hon. Sir George MURRAY, Secretary of State for the
Colonies, or to his deputy R.W. HAY. Reference
numbers, where given, refer to printed page numbers stamped on the letters and
will enable visitors to the National Archives to locate the letter more easily..
CAMPBELL.Mary (see
correspondence at 1827 and 1828)
63
10th
September 1829
Sir
I have to thank you for the favorable answer to the application
I made to the Secretary of State for the Colonies respecting my Nephew - a son
of the late Major General CAMPBELL.
Sir George
MURRAY had the goodness to say in reply that he had forwarded my letter to Sir
Lowry COLE Governor of the Cape of Good Hope with a wish expressed by him, that
a suitable situation might be found for the son of the late General and that an
enquiry be made into the cause of the withdrawing of the Land granted by my
Lord ARBUTHNOT to the late General._ I was favored
with this communication in the beginning of January and not having heard
further from the Colonial Office or had any accounts of or from my Nephew Mr John CAMPBELL I have become extremely anxious and uneasy
_ the more so as I had always heard from him whenever an opportunity offered
prior to my application _
I shall
feel much indebted to you if you will inform me if there have been any accounts
from Sir Lowry COLE in which he is mentioned. _
I have the
Honour to be Sir
your most
obedient Servant
Mary
CAMPBELL
71
24th
October 1829
Sir
I had the honor of addressing myself to you by letter in
January last _ and of representing to you the situation of my Nephews _ sons of
the late Major General CAMPBELL at the new settlement at the Cape of Good Hope
_ whose misfortunes from the death of their Parent etc in a foreign land called
for your sympathy and assistance._ In reply to the statement I made of their
case, which I shall not here trouble you with a repetion
of _ you had the condescension to say that Sir Lowry COLE Governor of the Cape
would be written to, and that you hoped he would find a proper situation for
the Eldest son of the M-General / who I have every reason to think is a young
man of intelligence and abilities / by some mistake I fear your kind intentions
towards him have not been made known to Sir Lowry COLE – as by a letter I
received from my Nephew two days ago to whom I had sent a copy of the one I was
favored with from you – he tells me that the
Governor had not had any communications respecting him from the Colonial
Office his letter is dated the 17th July. _ May I beg you will have
the goodness to give directions to relieve my anxiety respecting my Nephew and
excuse my making the request.
I have the
Honor to be Sir, with high respect_
Your most
obedient Servant
Mary
CAMPBELL
49
Graham’s Town
January 11th 1829
Sir
As civil Chaplain of Graham’s Town in His Majesty’s Colony of the Cape of Good Hope I beg leave
to address you on the subject of my salary & to submit to you a respectful
request that it may be paid me from the date of my embarkation in
The Government of this Colony have not thought proper in the absence of an order or the
sanction of a recommendation from Mr. HUSKISSON, your predecessor in office, to allow it me
further than from the date of my landing at
I beg also to state that I
relinquished a professional employment in
England nearly equal in pecuniary point of view in value to the one in which I
am now engaged, the emoluments of which I was deprived of from the date of my
embarkation & also during the time occupied in preparing for important
service in so distant a place of His Majesty’s dominions – I may perhaps also
be allowed to state that very heavy expenses were incurred in preparations
necessarily incidental to my present situation, that additional heavy expenses
were incurred during our unavoidable delay at Cape Town, to the payment of
which my salary during that time was totally inadequate – I beg in these
respects to represent to you the hardship of my case & to express a hope
that upon such considerations you will be pleased to allow me my salary for the
time of nearly 3 months from the 24th of April 1828 to the 12th
of July, which elapsed during my voyage to Africa.
I have the
honour to be, Sir
Your most
obedient servant
William
DYASON, George
94
Ramsgate
15th
June 1829
Sir,
I
have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a certificate granted to me by
His Excellency the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, the original thereof
being with the Right Honorable T.P.
COURTNAY, Agent for the Government of that Colony,
and with reference thereto I have respectfully to solicit that His Majesty’s
Secretary of State for the Colonies will be pleased to grant me a further leave
of six months in addition to my present leave, the urgency of my affairs
requiring a further indulgence.
I have the honor to be Sir
Your obedient servant
Geo. DYASON
96
[Enclosed with above]
This is to certify that I have granted leave of
absence for the term of six months from the period of his embarkation from this
Colony to Mr. George DYASON to return to
(Signed) J Henry COLE, Governor
97/110 (this letter appears twice)
15th
July 1829
Sir,
I
have the honor to transmit to you herewith a memorial which I beg leave to request you will be
pleased to forward to Sir George MURRAY.
The
usual limits of a memorial not offering the means required to enter
sufficiently at large to explain many circumstances that crave the attention of
His Majesty’s Secretary of State, I avail myself of this opportunity to enter
on the detail thereof.
It may be
known to you Sir that I was one of the leading men or principal persons who
engaged in colonizing the Eastern Districts of the
The
difficulties we met with in Location was such as we were not prepared to meet,
because we considered that a due and safe controul over the labour of these persons
we had taken out was a matter well understood to have claimed the attention of
the Government, but unfortunately through a misconception of orders the
military officer charged with the administration of the political and judicial
departments, instead of giving us the protection of the Government, rather
encouraged the labouring class to idleness; thus exposing us to evils that
brought on the distress that was so severely felt, while the Government were
obliged to receive the gratuitous aid of many of the superior settlers in
subordinate situations to quell internal irregularities and offer personal
security against the incursion of the Tribes of natives that acted in hostility
towards us.
Desirous of
supporting at all times the views of Government when called upon, I entered
upon duties far beneath the gradation in society or my interests in the Colony
entitled me to, & performed the fatiguing duties of Field Cornet, Landdrost’s Clerk and Postmaster, which in the Eastern
District from the extent of location, its population and their habits was more
arduous than others. Thus continuing at the risk of my personal safety and at a
nominal salary only (£50) to serve the Government until the year 1825, when I
was removed from my home to Graham’s Town to perform the no less difficult
duties of District Clerk, Registrar & Guardian of Slaves and Postmaster for
the Eastern District at an annual salary of £97:10, an amount barely sufficient
to defray the expences attendant upon the assumption of an Office in which
respectability of character and gentlemanly appearance were absolutely and
indispensably necessary.
Vide documents A,B,C,D,E
In
the year 1828 when the new regulations took place under the administration of
General BOURKE a mistake occurred that was very injurious to my interests,
namely a Return was called for of the services of the Persons then in employ
when it appeared that mine was represented to be three years less than they had
been, and in consequence thereof the following circumstances took place; the
most respectable situations I held, those of District Clerk & Guardian of
Slaves, the duties of which I had done at a salary of £67:10, were taken from
me, and analogous ones given, the first to a junior officer to myself at a
fixed salary of £300 per annum and that of Guardian of Slaves to a settler
without a shadow of claim for previous service at a fixed salary of £400 per
annum. Other appointments, altho’ of a minor nature, but likewise naturally
affecting me, also took place in the departments with which I was immediately
connected and in which I had served for ten years.
Under
the same Government | have been appointed to a very troublesome duty that
occupied me from nine till five in a crowded court, a duty extremely harassing
and prejudicial to health in a climate like the Cape, and one of no
respectability. Vide Document F.
In an
interview I had with General BOURKE at
I can
only attribute this neglect and injustice to my zeal and previous exertions to
promote the good of the public service, which during the previous
administration, surrounded by party feeling inimical to the Government, I had
felt it my duty, in the subordinate situations I held, to perform the business
of my office without questioning the propriety of the conduct of the
Government, and perhaps from meeting with the approbation of the persons in
charge of the departments I then served in I became a victim to party feeling.
This party knowing my activity and zeal in the performance of my duties placed
my exertions rather to the account of private friendship than the true sense I
have heretofore entertained of the absolute necessity of a rigid attention at
all times to my duty – that I ever strictly practised this I beg, Sir, to show
by Document H.
The
appointments before alluded to, combined with the
circumstance of the error of the return giving me credit for three years less
service than I was entitled to, found ground of suspicion that some one or more
of the party charged with carrying into execution the new arrangements had an
unfriendly feeling towards me.
The
Commissioners of Inquiry in their Report dated 6th Sept 1826 have
reference page 13. Extract.
“We will not
conclude this subject without bringing to Your Lordship’s notice the great
importance of giving due encouragement to the junior civil servants, by their
advancement to situations of trust and emolument for which they may be found
competent, some promotions that at one time were made tended greatly to
encourage the sons of respectable families in the Colony to engage in the
public service, and to induce them to adhere to it upon very inadequate
salaries. Their hopes of preferment have, however, in many cases been defeated
by the appointment of persons to lucrative and responsible situations who
possessed no claims from previous service or from their knowledge of business;
and we are bound also to observe that in several instances the duties have been
performed by the junior servants upon the depreciated salaries of clerks,
whilst the principals of the departments have enjoyed almost gratuitously very
considerable emoluments.”
This
abstract will be found to have been extremely correct, and may be applied
justly to my case, in as much as my services were given as it were gratuitously and when the period
of reward arrived, others, who had not performed any public duties, were
handsomely provided for while mine were overlooked.
In
the cultivation of Lands and in the execution of buildings I have sunk £4000,
for which I have been able to realize an income of £100 per annum only, and
this commencing the last year. All my time has been given to the public
service, and have imposed on me a laborious and unprofitable duty, while others
who have no personal interest in the Colony have either been promoted or
appointed over my head.
From
the unavoidable disadvantages of locality and the difficulty of procuring
labour it is evident the large holders of land can only look to the increase of
population and to well doing of the District for improvement in the value of
their lands and produce. It is therefore to be hoped Sir George MURRAY will be
pleased to admit the pretentions to public employment
such settlers as have imported large capitals and have no prospect for many
years to come of receiving a due remuneration for the capital they have sunk,
the time they would otherwise unprofitably expend, while also their interests
might be seriously inconvenienced by the appointment of persons inexperienced
in and unacquainted with the true interests of that Division of the Colony in
which my Brother Settlers and myself have so much at stake. I therefore hope
the Right Honorable Secretary for the Colonies will
take my case into favourable consideration and appoint me to a situation of
more emolument and respectability than that of Clerk to the Resident
Magistrate, that as Graham’s Town has increased both in population and traffic
the office of Postmaster may be considered to have grown into correspondent
trust and importance, it being the principal office in the Eastern Division and
second in importance in the Colony while its salary bears no affinity with that
of Cape Town altho’ recommended by His Majesty’s Commissioners of Inquiry that
it should do so. I therefore respectfully solicit the appointment of Deputy
Postmaster General for the Eastern Division, with a corresponding salary to the
Postmaster General, who enjoys a salary of £600 per annum, and hope my pretentions will not be considered presumptuous in naming
the salary for the performance of this duty at half that of the Postmaster
General (£300). Should I be empowered with the influence this office will rest
in me it would afford me the means of improving the revenue arising out of this
department and enable me to facilitate the modes of conveying the Posts through
the Frontier and Eastern Districts which their great distance from (800 miles)
and want of local knowledge at the Head Office precludes the possibility of
their being sufficiently provided for or attended to.
The
Report of the Commissioners of Inquiry I have read with much attention, and am
happy to bear testimony of many of the salutary provisions contained therein,
and beg to express my sincere opinion arising out of the experience of 10 years
I have been at the Colony that their labours have been of infinite service to
its interests.
In
the statement I have made having reference to the appointment of Individuals to
Offices over my head, I beg to declare that I disclaim any intention of
depreciating the merit of individuals who have been so placed and have only the
desire to shew my disappointments have been numerous and the conduct of the
Government of the day to have injured me in the omission from the accumulation
of public business, which injustice the Lieutenant Governor seems to have been
conscious of. Vide Doc.G.
I beg
leave to add that should Sir George MURRAY be pleased to direct an inquiry to
be made to the late Governor Lord Charles SOMERSET, or to General BOURKE,
relating to my conduct as a public officer in addition to the certificate
hereunto annexed, I have no doubt the answers will be such as will be most satisfactory.
I have the honor to be Sir
Your obedient servant
Geo. DYASON
104
Annexure A
[To George DYASON from
Thomas LAWSON]
Graham’s
Town,
18th
June 1828
My Dear Sir,
I regret, in common with all the
respectable part of the community of
I remain, my dear Sir,
Yours very faithfully
Thos. LAWSON
Resident Mag’te
of
105
Annexure D
[To George DYASON from W.B.
Graham’s
Town
June 7th
1828
Dear Sir,
As
you are about to avail yourself of your leave of absence to proceed to England,
and as it is my intention shortly to relinquish the situation I have for some
time held in Albany, we may not perhaps meet again in our official capacities.
I cannot therefore allow you to depart from this without your bearing with you
the Testimony of my approval of your conduct while acting under me, which I
have much satisfaction in saying has been always such as to merit my
unqualified praise.
Sincerely hoping that you will attain the object of your visit to
I remain
Yours most sincerely
W.B.
Civil Commissioner for
106
Annexure E
[To George DYASON,
Graham’s
Town
21st
October 1822
Sir,
In
pursuance of the provisions and authority of the proclamation of His Excellency
the Governor of the 4th of this month, I hereby appoint you Adjutant
of th Albany Levy.
I am Sir
Your obedient servant
Harry RIVERS
Landdrost of
107
Annexure H
[To George DYASON from Capt.
John FERNANDEZ]
June 1st
1829
Dear Sir,
I received
your letter of the 30th ulto informing me
of your arrival from the Cape and that you wished me to give you a certificate
that you had served under me as clerk while I was acting as Asst. Comm’y Gen’l at
I
think you served under my orders during the space of two years. Your attention
to your public duties induced me to recommend you to the notice of the
Commissary General who from on acting appointed you a clerk in the
Commissariat.
I
consider it but justice due to you to state that I received through the medium
of a private friend the opinion of an Inspector who examined my public
accounts, who told him that my accounts were so correctly made up, and the
numbers accompanying so carefully arranged, that little trouble was experienced
in their examination considering their magnitude and in consequence had but
three queries made on them.
It
gives me great pleasure to be able to comply with your request as it affords me
the opportunity of acknowledging thus publicly the merit that is truly your
due, and no more, and should you obtain any public employment any further
reference that may be required whether personally or otherwise, you may at all
times command me, a duty I consider your due, and in doing which I shall
consider I am promoting the advantage of His Majesty’s Service by being
instrumental in placing a public trust in the hands of one who has at an early
period of his life evinced a due estimate of so confidential and honorable a duty.
I beg
to assure you of my sincere regard acquired by your upright conduct and remain
Yours truly
John FERNANDEZ
Capt. Late A.A.C.G.
FELL, Joseph
(re Mrs. ERITH)
118
No.7 Great St.Helen’s
16th
December 1829
Hon’ble
Sir,
With the utmost respect permit me to apply
to your office for the sum of fifty pounds due to me on my arrival in
Your humble servant
Joseph FELL
Comm’dr
Ship Hero
HART, Samuel
Hood
128
Pummico,
near Bridport, Dorset
7th
July 1829
Hon’d Sir,
I may
truly call myself an Orphan in this country having no Parents or Relations to apply
to that will take care of me since my Grandfather’s death, a particular friend
of my late Grandfather’s have taken me under his care some years past. I have a
liberal education and have a Father and a Sister living at No.9 Buetinkant,
I
much wish and am very desirous of being with my Father and I have to beg you’ll
have the goodness to get me a free passage, and if I am granted the passage
free you’ll please to have the goodness to inform me of the time and place,
when and where I am to embark and what will be necessary for my friend to
provide for me previous to my leaving here. Your presenting this
my request to the Hon’ble the Commissioners
belonging to the Office will be ever gratefully remembered by your Honors
Most obd’t & vary hbl svt
Samuel Hood HART
PS You’ll please to ans’r
this as soon as convenient.